Page 46 of Until Waverly

Did I think I could work past my anger to build the relationship I’d always craved with Waverly and my daughter? I thought I could. People weren’t perfect. We all fucked up. I grew up believing it wasn’t the mistakes you made that defined you, but how you recovered from them. How you learned from your past errors. Grew from them. I believed that as much now as I did a week ago or a month ago, or hell even a year ago.

All Waverly needed to do was talk to me and tell me why. Instead, she insisted on hiding the truth and woven into her cobweb of lies.

It was frustrating.

Taking a deep breath, I slid out of my car and closed the door before heading over to her. I ignored her tears for the moment while motioning to the passenger side of the car. “Your chariot awaits you.”

The smallest of smiles floated across her lips.

It was something, and I’d take it.

Getting her in my car wasn’t easy. I was worried I’d end up hurting her bad leg. Finally, after a minute of debating which was the smartest way to settle her on the front seat, I situated her onto the seat without bumping her leg on anything. Then I returned the wheelchair as instructed.

When I came back to the car, my heart was thumping hard against my ribs. I hadn’t exerted myself one bit, however, being next to the girl who could still steal my breath was the primary culprit. Sweat slipped down the back of my neck. My palms were damp. I licked my bottom lip as I dropped the Comet into gear.

No surprise, Waverly ignored me. Her head rested against the window, her gaze trained on something in the distance and not on what was going on inside the car. I maneuvered us out of the roundabout, grateful to leave before everyone else had arrived. Once I’d hit the main stretch of highway, I cut my gaze in her direction. “It’s just you and me now. I want to know why you felt the need to hide my daughter from me.”

When she didn’t answer, I shook my head. It was like talking to a brick wall with her. “You really have nothing to say about it? Am I that horrible of a person that you thought I should be denied bonding with my daughter? Tell me—” My voice started getting louder “—what the hell did I do to you to deserve such shitty treatment?”

Silence again.

I slammed my hand down on my steering wheel, causing her to jump with my outburst. “You realize by not talking to me you’re making this a hostile situation.” I glanced at her. Tears rolled down her cheeks, one after the other, turning her skin a blotchy color while dejection filled her pretty blue eyes. I didn’t understand. The more she cried, the more frustrated I became. “Fuck, Waverly, just talk to me. We have a daughter together. Do you always want it to be like this between us?”

“No. I don’t,” she sobbed.

“Then please, sunshine,” I begged. Even if she’d done me dirty by cutting me out of hers and Alandria’s life, I needed to hear her reasons before I officially cut ties. As much as I wanted this beautiful, irritating creature beside me, I wouldn’t force her, and I would crawl on my hands and knees when I did nothing wrong. “Tell me why.”

When she still didn’t answer, I went another route. “Alandria bears an uncanny resemblance to my sister and me. If you were thinking of claiming she doesn’t belong to me, I won’t believe you. She’s got being Banks stamped all over her. Alandria also appears to be blessed with my sister’s temperament.”

Waverly sniffled. “I wasn’t planning on saying or doing that, Jackson. I swear. Her last nameislisted as Banks on her birth certificate. I wouldn’t have given her your name if I planned to keep her from you forever. Besides, you’re the only boy I’d ever had sex with, I don’t know how Icouldeven claim she didn’t belong to you.”

“Considering how you’ve been acting, the fact you hid your entire pregnancy from me and your family and now want to act like you’re being put out after you got caught, I wouldn’t put anything past you, right now,” I said, holding onto my threadbare control.

“Do you really think so little of me?” She threw my words back at me.

My hands tightened on the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white as I came to a stop at the red light. I had to put us back in neutral territory or else we wouldn’t get anywhere. Maybe if I offered a kind of olive branch, she’d open up to me. “She’s an amazing baby, Waverly.” I eased off the brake when the light switched to green, and I rolled through the intersection. “After just four days, I’m not sure how you did everything by yourself. Did you ever think about not having her?”

“I wanted her from the moment I found out about her,” she whispered. “There was never any doubt in my mind that I couldn’t do it. I needed to do it. I loved her from the moment I those lines showed up.”

She loved Alandria with every bit of her being, and again I was in awe of her. The rest of the drive back to Waverly’s apartment didn’t take very long. I entered the complex and parked the Comet into her spot.

“Moved your car to the visitor’s lot. When you’re cleared to drive, I’ll switch them back,” I said, putting the car into park.

She said nothing, but our conversation wasn’t over. Like Alandria, I pulled Waverly’s bags out first, then opened her door as much as I could. At the hospital, I could extend the car door all the way. Now I was limited because of the car parked next to me.

“I’m exhausted.” She sighed when it took a few tries to get her free of the car and into my arms so I could carry her in. “You know I can walk, right? I even have the crutches.” She pointed to them, sitting with her things.

I cocked a brow at her. “You’re not supposed to for long distances yet, Waverly. Dr. Jay spoke to both your mom and me in depth while you were impersonating Sleeping Beauty. Your ankle needs to heal, and right now the best medicine is rest and staying off it.”

She exhaled a breath as I started for the stairs. She was all skin and bones. Being in the hospital for six days hadn’t done her a bit of good. If anything, she seemed frailer—smaller in my arms. Every bit of me wanted to shelter and protect her, even though she rejected me at every turn. If only she’d tell me what happened, then I could fix this.

Then again, maybe I was being too optimistic.

As we crested the stairs, the door to Waverly’s apartment opened. One less thing for me to do. We had to dip, twist, and turn to clear her foot through the door jam, all without hitting it or her head on the singular other door in her apartment. I didn’t slow until I stopped to the side of the couch. I deposited her on softest part—damn I need to get her a new one—and pulled over the small ottoman to rest her foot on.

Mack came around me with a bottle of water and food for Waverly. She didn’t meet either of our gazes, instead frantically scanning the floor and all the open spaces in her tiny apartment. “Where is Alandria?” She narrowed her eyes at her father, like Mack would harm a hair on my baby girl’s head.

Mack Sr. turned and gave me an incredulous look that conveyed the sentiments of “is this girl for real?”

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